The People's Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate for the 2011 election, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd.) has assured Nigerians that the north is totally committed towards producing a PDP consensus candidate ahead of the forthcoming polls. The former military president gave this assurance in Katsina yesterday while addressing journalists during his pre-presidential campaign tour of the State.
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According to Baban-gida, the possibility of the north producing a consensus candidate is certain now that all northern presidential candidates under the platform of PDP have agreed to abide by the final decisions of the Consensus Committee, which has been given the mandate to select a probable presidential candidate among the aspirants jostling for the number one job of the land.
Babangida said: "I am confident and all of us have also agreed that whatever decisions the consensus committee comes up with, we will abide by those decisions. The chance of a consensus candidature is very bright. We know that it is being looked into by very credible people, who have spent their lives working for this country. People who know what is good for this country and who we the candidates respect."
While fielding questions from journalists, the former military ruler observed that the porous security situation in the country was not peculiar to Nigeria, stressing that similar security problems were being faced by most developing countries around the globe.
He however, said with the cooperation of the people, the country's leadership should be able to find a lasting solution to the menace of crime.
On the allegation that his administration and that of Gen. Sani Abacha are to blame for the perennial power outage in the country, the presidential hopeful said, Nigerians were better off during the past regimes, as the current epileptic power supply was not so.
On what would be his priorities if he becomes the president, Babangida said, he would build a strong economy by eliminating all forms of impediments capable of derailing the progress and socio-economic development of the State.
Earlier at the Government House in Katsina, IBB Campaign Northern Coordinator, Senator Kanti Bello praised Gen. Ibrahim Babangida for creating Katsina State in 1987, adding that he was an achiever who fought the civil war to keep this country together.
Expatiating, the Director General, IBB Campaign Organization, Chief Raymond Dokpesi said IBB recorded some landmark achievements as military president, including the construction of the Shiroro Dam, Orji River Dam and Kainji Dam.
According to Dokpesi, these projects contributed in no small way to the development of the nation's power sector.
North will produce consensus candidate, says IBB (http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/16866.html)